How Do Architects and Engineers Review a Submittal?

Under the AIA's general conditions, A201–2017 §4.2.7, the architect reviews and approves, or takes other action on, shop drawings, product data and samples "only for the limited purpose of checking for conformance with information given and the design concept expressed in the Contract Documents". The same section lists what the review isn't: a check of "dimensions and quantities", of installation instructions or equipment performance, or of safety and construction means and methods. And approving an item "shall not indicate approval of an assembly of which the item is a component".

That limit is in the contract for a reason: the contractor keeps responsibility for what it submits (§3.12.8), and it prepares the package to the specs before you see it. A review that drifts into checking every dimension takes time the schedule doesn't have and blurs who is responsible for what. Your owner-architect agreement and the project's specifications may change this scope, so read both.

Spend five minutes before the real review. Three checks decide whether a submittal is ready for one.

1. Is it required? A201–2017 §3.12.4 lets the architect return submittals the contract doesn't require "without action", and informational submittals marked as such in the documents need no responsive action.
2. Has the contractor reviewed it? The federal clause FAR 52.236-21 lets the government return shop drawings without the contractor's approval for resubmission, and UFGS 01 33 00 marks them "not reviewed" with the reason.
3. Are the deviations listed? Under §3.12.8 the contractor must point out a deviation when it submits; read that list first, because those are the decisions you are being asked to make.

If it fails one of these, return it quickly with the reason. A quick "not reviewed, contractor's stamp missing" costs the job a few days; a full review of an incomplete package costs the whole review period and then a second one.

1. Open the spec section and paragraph on the cover sheet, and the drawings and schedules the item appears on.
2. Route it to the consultant whose work it is (the structural or MEP engineer) with the date you need their comments back.
3. Check each requirement in the spec against the submittal: model, rating, size, material, finish, listings and the certificates the section asks for.
4. Decide each listed deviation: accept it, accept it with a condition, or refuse it. Say which in writing.
5. Write comments that cite the requirement: "Spec 26 24 16 2.2.C requires copper bus; submitted aluminum. Provide copper." Not "see spec".
6. Combine your comments and the consultants' into one marked-up copy and choose one code for the submittal.
7. Return it to the contractor and log the date on the submittal log. The clock on the job's review time stops when you return it.

The City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering's shop drawing procedure puts two rules plainly. Comments "must be clear and based upon the contract documents" and "should not require anything that is not in the specifications". And a second round shouldn't be needed because the reviewer failed "to clearly identify the deficiency". If the comments are clear enough to get an acceptable product, the procedure gives the submittal its approved-with-corrections rating rather than sending it around again.

Your specifications name the codes, often in Division 01. The words differ (the Los Angeles procedure uses no exceptions taken, make corrections noted, rejected / resubmit, and received and filed), but they come down to what the contractor may do next.

Watch for comments that change the design. If a correction asks for something the documents don't require, the contractor may treat it as a change: UFGS 01 33 00 §1.13 tells the contractor to give notice under the changes clause when a correction "constitute[s] a change". If the design has to change, say so and issue it as a change, through a change order or the contract's minor-change procedure, not as a note on a shop drawing.

On a made-up job, the Mill Creek Clinic, the electrical sub's panelboard shop drawings come to the architect through the GC. The MEP engineer reviews them and the architect returns them.

Approved as noted fits here: both corrections are specific and the sub can order with them made. Had the bus material been unclear, or the sub proposed a different manufacturer, revise and resubmit would protect everyone. The deviation is accepted in writing, on its own line, as a minor change, so the approval covers it; a deviation that changes price or time needs a change order or directive instead.

In Conflo's Submittals tool, each submittal names its design-team reviewers when it is set up. Review runs in order: GC review, then design review, then an optional consultant review, and the next step opens only when every required reviewer on the current one has responded. When it reaches you, you see the spec section, the files and the GC's review, and when your review is due.

You answer with one of four codes: approved, approved as noted, revise and resubmit, or rejected. Anything other than approved needs a note saying what to change. The GC returns it to the sub, and the deciding review is marked as the official response on the record. A revise and resubmit comes back as the next revision under the same number, so the history stays in one place.

Review the package before the content, the content against the specs and the design concept, and every listed deviation on its own line. Write comments that cite the requirement, choose the code by what the contractor may do next, and return it inside the review time.

Leave dimensions and means and methods with the contractor, and send design changes through the change process, not a stamp.

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1. Summary: A201–2017, General Conditions of the Contract for Construction — AIA Contract Documents. Read October 17, 2026.
2. UFGS 01 33 00 Submittal Procedures (August 2026), §1.12–1.13 — Whole Building Design Guide, USACE / NAVFAC / AFCEC. Read October 16, 2026.
3. FAR 52.236-21, Specifications and Drawings for Construction — Acquisition.gov, U.S. General Services Administration. Read October 16, 2026.
4. Project Delivery Manual, 16.1 Shop Drawings — City of Los Angeles, Bureau of Engineering. Read October 16, 2026.